Ryan Day is doing what everyone expected Urban Meyer to do.
Meyer, despite playing football at the University of Cincinnati, tended to look north to Cleveland and stay home in Columbus instead of offering recruits from the Queen City. Most of Meyer's top commits, including Marshon Lattimore, Parris Campbell, and Jonathan Cooper, populated the other two C-cities.
Ryan Day, on the other hand, has found gold down south.
Day's 2020 class, highlighted by Princeton teammates Paris Johnson Jr. and Darrion Henry, holds five commitments from recruits in the Cincinnati area. Ohio State has only six total scholarship players from Ohio's third-largest city today.
The last time the Buckeyes held four or more signees from the Cincinnati area? 1990.
Day, who came into the head coaching position as only an offensive coordinator, has managed to buck the trends of coaches' past. And is benefitting because of it.
Ohio State's five commitments, four of which are non-specialists, combine for 18 stars. The four non-specialists have an average rating of 0.9206, higher than Day's total 2020 class average.
In Urban Meyer's eight years at the helm, the Bucks only managed to keep the top Cincinnati recruit three times (Hubbard - 2014, Hilliard - 2015, Riep - 2017). Day, albeit still in his first year, holds commitments from the top two 2020 Queen City recruits, something Meyer never accomplished.
While it is still early in Day's tenure, his ability to build a recruiting network in a talent-heavy city despite the presence of an up-and-coming program is promising for the future of the Buckeyes.
